Islamabad: Pakistan`s National Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution that called for delaying local government elections, saying it would be difficult to hold free and fair polls in the given timeframe.
The Election Commission had yesterday announced the schedules for local government polls in Sindh and Punjab provinces following pressure from the judiciary.
The Supreme Court has rejected any delays in the elections and ordered the election Commission to conduct the polls as soon as possible.
According to the schedule announced by the poll panel, elections will be held in Sindh on November 27 and in Punjab on December 7.
However, the resolution moved by Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the lower house of parliament said conducting elections in haste would cast doubt on the credibility and transparency of the process.
Qureshi said the schedule given by the poll panel is not implementable as the provinces have to finalise the delimitation of constituencies.
The resolution said the Election Commission must ensure proper procedures are completed to guarantee free and transparent polls. It said ballots can only be printed by state-owned Printing Corporation of Pakistan, which has shown its inability to print the papers according to the schedule given by the poll panel.
The Printing Corporation has said it needs at least 120 days to print the ballots. The resolution further said minimum time should be granted to complete all required legal formalities and procedures.
